The Angela Carter BBC Radio Drama Collection

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me early access to this audiobook.
I adore Angela Carter’s stories especially The Bloody Chamber. Recommend a listen. Audiobook was excellent

A wonderful collection of radio dramas that do full justice to Angela Carter's decadent, twisted stories. There's a full programme here comprising some (all?) of The Bloody Chamber stories along with an adaptation of Nights at the Circus and some other miscellaneous pieces including early radio plays and dramatised biographies..

These are gloriously adapted for radio so that they are brought to life but also allow the listener's own imagination to interact with the texts. The casting is excellent, there are brief introductions which are useful if not especially informative, and the dramas themselves are immersive and just so well done. Especial favourites of mine are the shivery Elf King and the unexpected The Company of Wolves, as well as the hilarious Puss-in-Boots for a change of mood. A wonderful audio collection.

A magical anthology of Angela Carter’s work dramatized by the BBC.

Included are adaptations of five of Carter’s folktale re-imaginings, of which 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Tiger's Bride', and ‘Puss in Boots’ standout. Further adaptations include Nights at the Circus, while the Gothic Vampirella is a play written especially for radio. The Christchurch Murder, based on the real-life Parker–Hulme murder case, is one of three works in the collection focused on parent-killers. The docu-drama, Come Unto These Yellow Sands, is one of two biographies, and is based on the life of criminally insane artist Richard Dadd.

Interstitial talk-pieces from Angela Carter's literary executor, Susannah Clapp, add insight to each production. As Clapp explains, Carter’s work lends itself to the aural medium, and reflects the oral tradition of fairytales.

The collection ends with an interview with Carter herself.

This is an essential collection for Angela Carter fans as well as for those looking for an introduction to her work. Together, this audio collection captures the author's lexicographical prowess and ribald humour; and her fascination with/ability to create bizarre, out of the ordinary characters. As a whole, the work illustrates Carter’s criticism of society's expectations and repression of those without power, women in particular.

The productions are faithful to the original texts, and are performed by a talented ensemble including Fiona Shaw, Andrew Sachs, Roisin Conaty and James Wilby.

Truly wonderful - this is a collection I will come back to again and again.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Audio.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me early access to this audiobook!

I absolutely adore Angela Carter’s stories (or tales, as she’d preferred), The Bloody Chamber is my favourite book of hers.

This audiboook is perfection - from the introduction, through the cast, to the atmosphere, there is nothing you could fault!

I know some people don’t like audiobooks, either because they had a bad experience with a narrator’s way of reading the book out, or because they don’t think it counts as reading, but to those people: give this a go! I could run around, get things done and listen to these amazing, wonderful tales, making boring chores all the more bearable!

The BBC radio Drama Collection includes: The Bloody Chamber, The Erl King, Wolf Alice, The Tiger's Bride, The Company of Wolves, The Christchurch Murder, Nights at the Circus Parts 1 &2, Vampirella, Come Unto These Yellow Sands, Puss in Boots, A Self Made Man, Lizzie's Tiger and Third Ear.

The cast performances and atmosphere created was perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audiobook as opposed to reading the stories. I'm not not always the biggest fan of audiobooks but this one was completely immersive and is definitely something that I would listen to again; I now want to pick up more of Angela Carter's work.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the audiobook in return for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this wonderful audiobook arc!!

This is amazing! As a person who has always wanted to read Angela Carter’s work this was so good. This audiobook was so easy to listen to whilst working, all while being engaging and cohesive!

I have enjoyed listening to these radio dramatised stories. The style of acting and drama takes me back to times when my mother listened to radio 4 plays. They are brilliantly acted and have been well adapted for an adult audience, although the premise is on the traditional fairy tales along the lines of Grimm rather than Disney!
Many thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I shall be revisiting these tales time and time again.

The likelihood is that the listener knows these stories, and they should be subject to a different review - suffice to say that they are fantastic, and savage, and every word feels measured.

This production, or collection of productions, is also fantastic - not what I initially expected, being more used to audiobooks, where clarity is king, and the performance is usually by a single voice reading the words. These are dramatisations, with casts of actors who do wonderful work bringing the characters to life amongst the strange and disturbing narratives that Carter creates. My only criticism would be that they sometimes lose audibility, easing into breathiness and whispers, which necessitated rewinding if I wished to hear them.

Great stuff!

The BBC have collated a marvellous Angela Carter BBC radio drama collection that is an absolute joy to listen to. I have long been a fan of radio drama, feeling that it is an art form that leaves more room for the reader to exercise their imagination, and this point is made in the introduction by Susannah Clapp. There are a number of stories from the acclaimed The Bloody Chamber collection, and among my favourites was The Christchurch murders and Puss in Boots. The collection is well served with some outstanding actors and their performances, including Fiona Shaw, James Wilby, Andrew Sachs in Puss-in -Boots and Roisin Conaty as a trapeze artist. There is the trademark dark, disturbing, and the chilling in the radical feminist Carter tradition, of classic fairy tales subverted, challenging social norms and attitudes. It finishes with an insightful interview with Carter where she touches on a wide range of subjects and which I had heard before. I can see this appealing to many listeners, including Carter's legion of fans. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Netgalley for the audio.

An essential anthology of subversive tales for all fans of fantasy and an excellent introduction to Angela Carter for those unfamiliar with her work. Obviously, it goes without saying that Carter fans will love it.

There is a great selection of radio plays and dramatised version of her short stories. I especially loved her version of the Christchurch Murders. Having seen the film Heavenly Creatures years ago, I was struck by how much better I thought it translated as a radio performance - totally immersive stuff.

It might be worth mentioning that actually the tales I liked least were the short Company of Wolves stories at the start, so if you love those, you are in for a treat but if you don’t, persevere!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Audio for an ARC of this audiobook.